A children's soft play centre owner has good reason to raise a glass after he was given permission to sell alcohol to parents.
Craig Lynch said he wanted parents to enjoy a pint or glass of wine with a home-made meal while their children burn off energy at the Fun Zone in Langley Moor.
He told councillors: "We're getting a great reputation for our food and we're getting a lot more people coming.
"We get a lot of requests from the parents saying, 'We can come here, the kids can play, we can have a bit of time together, have a lovely meal. It'd be nice to have a drink, a pint or a glass of wine.
"What we're trying to get here is somewhere for families to come to.
"Nobody goes to soft plays for food, until now. We're trying to do something different with my pub and restaurant background.
"People seem to be coming on board to it and enjoying it. We're getting busy and it's just to put another string to the bow if we can.
"There is a demand for it. People want to come, have a couple of drinks, go home."
He asked Durham County Council for an alcohol licence for his soft play centre at the Skillion Business Centre on the Littleburn Industrial Estate.
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Brandon and Byshottles Parish Council objected with concerns booze sales would "directly expose children to the risk of bad behaviour associated with alcohol".
They said in a statement: "We are concerned that the play equipment may become more attractive to adults once their inhibitions have been lowered by alcohol consumption, and they may enter the play area and cause harm to child users."
Priscilla Elmer from the parish council told the licensing sub-committee: "We have grave concerns over this and we don't feel it's an appropriate venue for a licence."
She argued Fun Zone, unlike a pub with children's facilities, had soft play as its main business: "We didn't feel that combining that with the sale of alcohol on premises during operation as a soft play centre was appropriate or wise.
"We'd felt almost instinctively that it didn't seem like a happy combination."
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She said their concerns were backed up with public health research about children's attitudes, being in such venues and thinking "alcohol is what's necessary to have fun".
She wondered whether the centre would enforce its "zero tolerance" policy by having "bouncers on the door".
Mr Lynch responded: "That's not what we're looking for.
"There won't be a bar in there as such. There'll be a couple of draft products, which I can hide out of the way. There'll be no spirits on show, no optics.
"After 23 years working in the licence trade in bars and nightclubs all over the country, the last thing I want to do now is a bar."
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The drinks will be served only with food and in plastic glasses, people are not allowed to come into the centre without children, and the soft play is in two-hour sessions at peak times.
Mr Lynch said people could not come in and drink for long periods: "It's not going to happen. I wouldn't allow it.
"There'll be no chance of people coming in and getting drunk.
"There won't be a queue of blokes. Food will be taken to the tables, as will the drinks.
"We're not a restaurant. We're a soft play site that does good food.
"We've been open trading a year now. We're started to gather some pace. We're just trying to add to it."
The applicants said drinking would not be promoted, adults were not allowed on play areas, safeguarding and safety were paramount and the centre had undergone successful inspections.
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"I just promise you it'll be run properly. There'll be no issues at all," added Mr Lynch.
"I've got a proven track record of running safe environments."
The licensing committee approved the application with conditions.
Mr Lynch said afterwards: "I'm over the moon."
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